Ethical Decision Making

Attorneys are notoriously called unethical. This may be true in many cases, but not in all of them. Attorneys and paralegals are faced with making ethical decisions on a daily basis. Not only do attorneys have a code of ethics to follow, but paralegals do also. These ethics have an impact on the decisions paralegals and attorneys make. This paper will define an ethical situation and the elements of the situation. These elements will include: 1) what are the ground rules; 2) what could the ground rules be; 3) what should the ground rules be; 4) what the ethical implications of the decision are; and 5) how might the decision change the ground rules? There are many times paralegals are put in a compromising position where they have to use their judgment to make a correct or ethical decision.
Some attorneys themselves put their own paralegals in situations where one needs to use ethical decision making. For example, there are law firms in Colorado Springs who take on more ...